Sunday, October 30, 2011

Words That Might Make Angels Fans Weep Tears Of Joy

... or, they might make you shake your head with knowing scorn having heard contrary nonsense for much of the last decade. Mike DiGiovanna in the Times covered yesterday's press conference introducing Jerry Dipoto as the Angels' new GM. The most important paragraph out of all of it:

He's a firm believer in on-base percentage (OBP) and plate discipline. "If you're not OB, you're not going to win many games," he said. He thinks "count control," from the pitching and hitting sides, is important. He loves aggressive baserunning.

I cannot stress enough how vital it is to hear this after years of attachment to a statistic that does not correlate well with offenses that actually score runs. It may yet prove ephemeral or a case of glib public relations, but at this exact moment it represents a much needed return to sanity in an organization that has lacked that on offense for a very long time.